Chase Elliott 'back in the swing' with Martinsville return

NASCAR Cup Series

By Zack Albert

NASCAR.com

Published:

5 Minute Read

Chase Elliott insists he wasn't doing anything extravagantly "wild or crazy" last month, when he sustained the snowboarding injury that's kept him out of the last six NASCAR Cup Series races. That would seem to rule out schussing off a Colorado cliff's razor edge or dropping in from a helicopter into some perilous powder.

"I don't have a cool story to tell," Elliott said in a video conference Thursday, three days before his planned return to Cup Series competition. "It was just that perfect storm that could happen at any point in time, honestly."

At the same time, Elliott said he knew that the damage that was done "was not good, and I knew that pretty quickly." X-rays and tests would later reveal a fractured tibia in his left leg, but before that diagnosis was made, Elliott was already on the phone from the emergency room with his team owner, Rick Hendrick, and Alan Gustafson, the crew chief of his No. 9 Chevrolet. The team would need to make contingency plans for that weekend's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and potentially beyond, with Elliott being careful not to over-dramatize the situation but also being transparent about it.

"Obviously I didn't know at that point in time and was just hoping for the best," Elliott said, "but whatever it was gonna be, it was gonna be. It was done at that point, right? So I was more just thinking about tackling what it was and doing what the doctors told me to do to get back to 100% as soon as I could."

Getting back to his day job happens this weekend, with Elliott returning to the No. 9 Chevy in time for this Sunday's NOCO 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Martinsville Speedway. The event marks the 27-year-old driver's third start of the season, and he’ll be pursuing the historic track's grandfather-clock hardware carrying some extra hardware of his own — surgically placed screws that have helped his fracture heal.

RELATED: Martinsville weekend schedule | Chase Elliott set to return

Elliott was medically cleared earlier this week and consecutive days in the racing simulator convinced him he was ready to return. He said that the next two tracks on the schedule — Martinsville and the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway — would not have been his first choices to make his comeback, but he felt confident in his strength and what his doctors have told him about the integrity of his healing bone. But, he added, "I’d be lying if I said it wasn't going to be tough. I mean, it's going to be tough."

"Had a really good week in the gym, ran a lot of laps and got to a point where I felt like I was comfortable," Elliott told NASCAR.com, noting that getting around the tight 0.526-mile track requires heavy braking for each corner entry. "Ultimately, that was why we made the decision that we did. If I didn't feel like I could do it, I wouldn't put us in the situation or I wouldn't go, but I just think that you’ve got to get back in the swing at some point, and no better way than to just go do it."

Elliott said Josh Berry, who filled in for five of the six races in the No. 9 Chevrolet, would be on standby this weekend at Martinsville should he need a relief driver. The longtime short-track standout performed capably in Elliott's absence, netting a career-best showing of second place on April 2 at Richmond Raceway. IMSA champion Jordan Taylor subbed at the lone road course in that six-race stretch, making his Cup Series debut at Circuit of The Americas.

Elliott lauded the contributions of both fill-in drivers, noting especially Berry's quick turnaround for Las Vegas on relatively short notice and Taylor's show of speed on a challenging road circuit with his first experience in a Cup Series car.

"I thought they both did a really good job. Obviously, Josh's background was very natural, and he's done a done a really nice job and everybody on the team has enjoyed working with him," Elliott said. "And Jordan jumping in there, I thought he had a lot of pace. I’d love to see him get another opportunity to run again, now that he has a little more time to think about things and digest what went on at COTA. But nonetheless, both did a really good job, and I appreciate them jumping in and the job that they did and the effort that they put in to help us."

Elliott has just two starts in the books for 2023 at both ends of the pendulum — a 38th-place crash-out in the Daytona 500 followed by a runner-up result at Auto Club Speedway the next week. But his time away has relegated him to 34th in the Cup Series standings.

MORE: Elliott: ‘Kind of like a reset for me’ | Inside his path to the playoffs

NASCAR officials granted Elliott a medical waiver that would keep his eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs intact. A rule change made before the season no longer requires drivers to finish among the top 30 in Cup Series points to be playoff-eligible. Theoretically, a mathematical path to the postseason might exist, but Elliott says he has been zeroed in on winning to punch his ticket.

"I have no idea how far back we are, but I just assume that that wasn't even possible," Elliott said regarding the points route to the playoff field of 16. "I mean, I think for us, we’re in a position where we’re going to have to win. That's at least how I’m looking at it, how I’ve been thinking about it ever since this happened. I figured you miss a few weeks, and you’re pretty much gonna have to win. That's how I’m looking at it.

"I don't think I really change my approach. Does that change how we call races from a strategic standpoint? Yeah, you know, it probably does. But does it change how I drive or how I want the car to be set up for the weekend? No. I mean, I think we’re always out there trying to win events, but I certainly think it can change your play as far as a particular race day."

Elliott said he texted back and forth during his rehabilitation process with Kyle Busch, who made his own recovery from severe leg injuries several years back. Busch missed 11 races at the start of the 2015 season after a crash in the Xfinity Series opener, but returned to claim his first Cup Series championship.

Elliott acknowledged the nature of Busch's injuries was different, and in his estimation, more severe. But he says he found some common ground in their conversations as he worked his way back toward Cup Series competition.

"We worked with different doctors, right, so just kind of quizzing him on what his guys were telling him and comparing that with what I’m being told," Elliott said. "Just gathering information for myself personally and just to understand kind of what he went through in that rehab process, how he felt when he was getting back in the car, what things he was looking for, what was comfortable, what wasn't, if anything. Just kind of talk through as much of that as I can, just to gather info. Like I said, very different injuries, but always good to get a second opinion on a somewhat similar situation."